China sets up new county in Xinjiang near PoK, Afghan border

Beijing: China has set up a new county in its volatile Xinjiang province near Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and the Afghanistan border in an apparent move to beef up security along the narrow Wakhan Corridor to curb infiltration of Uyghur separatist militants.

The county, named Cenling, is located near the Karakoram mountain range and close to the borders with PoK and Afghanistan, underscoring its strategic significance.

This is the third new county established by China in Xinjiang, a predominantly Muslim Uyghur region, in just over a year.

India last year lodged a protest with China over the creation of Hean and Hekang counties, stating that parts of their jurisdiction fall within its union territory of Ladakh.

Hean includes much of the disputed Aksai Chin plateau, which is part of Ladakh occupied by China in the 1962 war and has remained a focal point of the India-China border dispute.

The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region government announced the establishment of Cenling on March 26, though details of its administrative divisions and exact boundaries were not specified.

It will be administered by Kashgar prefecture, according to a report in the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post.

Kashgar, a historic city located on the ancient Silk Road, is a strategic gateway connecting China with South and Central Asia.

It is also the starting point of the controversial USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which passes through PoK and has been opposed by India.

Experts say the creation of Cenling reflects Beijing's growing focus on border security and governance.

Lin Minwang, a professor at the Institute of International Studies in Shanghai-based Fudan University, said the move "reflects China's deeper recognition of the strategic importance of this region".

"At a broader level, the decision signals China’s emphasis on its borderlands,” Lin was quoted as saying by the Post.

He noted that the new county is geographically connected to Afghanistan's narrow Wakhan Corridor, a 74-km strip bordering Xinjiang that separates Tajikistan and PoK, highlighting China's security and counterterrorism concerns.

Beijing in past has expressed concern about Uyghur militants of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) using the Wakhan Corridor as a route to enter Xinjiang from Afghanistan.

Yun Sun, a senior fellow at the Stimson Centre in Washington, said the new county represented a drive towards a “stronger grass-roots level government structure for effective governance and control”.

“It helps to strengthen the stabilisation efforts by the government in the frontier region, which is traditionally more subject to ethnic turbulence and potential infiltration of foreign militants from Central Asia,” she said.